


I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it.

by trillfairy



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Angst, Canon Typical Behavior, Dennis really likes The 1975, Fluff, Guilty Pleasures, I'll tag more once I go along, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Righting the wrongs of RCG, Set during season 12, secret feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-18 05:35:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10610337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trillfairy/pseuds/trillfairy
Summary: Everyone had a guilty pleasure. Everyone had a show they liked to watch, a food they liked to eat, something they liked to do. Dennis Reynolds’ guilty pleasure was The 1975. Specifically, ‘I like it when you sleep.’ There was something catchy about the music and intriguing about the lyrics. And when someone from the gang liked something, it normally became a whole thing. So this, inevitably, became a whole thing.





	1. Love Me

**Author's Note:**

> This originally started as my friend Selena and I just thinking of how Dennis probably really likes The 1975. Then it turned into me crying in bed for a couple of hours starting to formulate this fic while coping with the season 12 finale. Some of these chapters are incredibly short. Enjoy. xx

Dennis hated cleaning up the bar after a long night of messy customers spilling drinks all over the floor and tables. It was always a drag swishing the mop around on the floor, watching the beer disperse and mix with the bleach water. 

Thankfully, he’d brought his new record just for moments like this. The bar was completely empty, the rest of the gang running to the corner store for shitty processed food and probably a pack of smokes, so he fed his CD into the stereo system and cranked the volume loudly as he skipped straight to Love Me.

The first few chords lifted his mood right away as he began swinging his hips in a messy way, bobbing his head up and down. 

_ ‘And love me, if that’s what you wanna do.’ _

He sang along to the music, imagining himself where he’d like to be, on a stage commanding a crowd, being awed at by adoring fans. He was in his element, perfectly content, until he turned to the door to realize that Mac, Frank, Charlie and Dee had walked in and caught him in his act.


	2. UGH!

He never thought that anyone in the gang would enjoy The 1975. Frank, of course, hated anything remotely modern and poppy sounding, but that was expected. However, hearing Charlie occasionally hum lines from one of their songs and Mac moving his hips along with the tune was something he definitely did not expect after the night he had exposed the gang to his guilty pleasure album. Even Dee took a huge interest in the band, saying something about how the lead singer was “pretty cute”, Charlie and Mac saying he was bony like a bird and would be perfect for her. 

Another night cleaning the bar resulted in another music session but this time he had his friends with him.

‘UGH!’ became one of his new favorite songs after watching Charlie and Dee dance sloppily together, incredibly intoxicated, while he and Mac tried to mop the floors again. Dennis swayed his hips, bobbing his head and Mac surprisingly wasn’t doing his karate moves like an asshole, and in all honesty, regular dancing Mac was kind of hot.

_ ‘And you’re the only thing that’s going on in my mind, taking over my life a second time.’ _

Dennis was brought back to when he was 17 and he first met Mac. He was behind the bleachers at school, lighting a spliff and generally looking like a douchey punk kid, but his face had consumed Dennis’ mind after the encounter. Something about him had always had Dennis going back to him.


	3. Please Be Naked

Dennis had fallen into the comfort of sleeping with Mac beside him every night. Since their apartment burned down and they moved in with Dee, having to share a bed, Dennis’ nightmares became less frequent, being replaced with Mac beside him in pastel colored dreams.

Sometimes Dennis would only want to go to bed just to be curled up in the nook between the bed and Mac’s body. And when Mac moved in his sleep to curl his arm around the nearest pillow, Dennis just let him. And nobody said anything about it.

On the rare occasion that Dennis was alone in the apartment, he played the album and skipped straight to the calm instrumental song. Laying on the bed he’d close his eyes as the music took his mind on a journey of memories with the gang and all of the times he was close to Mac.

He would never tell anyone about this.


	4. If I Believe You

_ ‘And i’m asking you, Jesus, show yourself.’ _

 

Everyone knew Mac was gay. “From the day they met,” Frank claimed and that was absolutely true. It’s just the issue with Mac not knowing for himself.

Sure there were a couple of times Mac had openly claimed he was gay, but that was only for Mac to go back into the closet and confidently deny any allegations to being gay. But Dennis knew better. He was his best friend for crying out loud.

He knew because he sometimes caught Mac checking out guys on the street.

He knew because when Mac snuck out at night, there would be glitter left on his temple from The Rainbow.

He knew because sometimes he’d find himself lost in Mac’s eyes from time to time with the look of temptation spread across Mac’s face.

He knew because sometimes  _ he could hear Mac praying desperately in the bathroom, breath shaky and voice filled with shame _ .

Dennis tried to block out those times, it made Mac feel better about doing it and he could pretend it made himself feel better, but it was honestly sad.

Mac asking Jesus or God or whoever the hell to show himself and answer his goddamn prayers was shitty and only pushed Dennis further from believe in the big man himself. If Mac believed in God, it wasn’t making him better.


	5. Loving Someone

Mac coming out was a huge celebration for him-- and for the gang not having to hear him deny it all the goddamn time. After Mac had left the arbitrator’s office the gang decided to join him, making him pay the bill another day and they all found themselves back at Paddy’s Pub.

“Are you going to go celebrate at the Rainbow?” Charlie had asked eagerly, hoping to tag along with his best friend but Mac just shook his head and poured the gang some shots, asking Dennis to put on some music.

Dennis didn’t even have to ask what he meant and slipped in  _ I like it when you sleep _ .

The gang knocked back shots from the finest top-shelf tequila they had at Paddy’s. One shot turned to two turned to three and after three Dennis had completely lost count because his head was spinning as his hips swayed to the music. He danced with Dee who whipped her hair around, a glass of beer in her hands. He danced with Charlie who just sort of waved his hips and arms around while bursting into bits of laughter. He finally danced with Mac who had never looked happier.

_ ‘Yeah you should be loving someone.’ _

Dennis’ mind might as well have been on another planet. For once he didn’t care about what he looked like. For once he didn’t care that Mac was probably standing too close for comfort. For once he just didn’t care about anything. Other than the fact that his best friend was happy now.


	6. A Change Of Heart

_ You used to have a face straight out of a magazine. Now you just look like anyone. _

Dennis had fallen deeper into the void he called his mental illness. At first he forgot to take his medicine, and once he forgot, he stopped taking it all together and everything from there was a downward spiral. Soon after, the purple under his eyes became so dark that even his best foundation couldn’t cover it and  _ god _ he looked as awful as he felt.

It started when he got a phone-call one morning from a North Dakota number. He knew this number too well. It matched a girl named Mandy he’d met a little over a year ago during the Bogg’s event with the gang. A girl with a baby who was his. And he immediately knew that nothing about this situation was going to go right once she announced she was coming into town soon for a formal introduction between Brian Jr. and his father.

Things only got worse as the days went by and he couldn’t think of a single god-damn decent plan to avoid this problem. 

Mac was out. Like officially 100% out. And a couple weeks after, Mac walked in on him in the middle of the night practicing his stripping routine; something he’d chosen to distract himself with in order to avoid a complete meltdown. He had walked close to him, wanting desperately to close the gap between their lips but slammed the doors that connected Dee’s room to the living room in his face. 

After that, Mac had been more careful around Dennis. After that, Dennis wished he would have just said “fuck it” and kissed him. After that, he couldn’t stop thinking about it for days. Thinking about everything for that matter. The way Mac looked at him, lips as tempting as the crack he was once addicted to. The visit with Mandy creeping closer. The inevitable chaos all of this would bring upon his life. So he stopped taking his medicine, hyper focused on things he’d never once given a damn about and spent the nights listening to his new favorite albums sad songs in the bar and drowning his worries with liquor.


	7. Lostmyhead

_ I’ve lost my head. Can you see it? _

 

Valentine’s Day was repulsive.

Dennis didn’t understand why the hell the gang enjoyed it so much, Dee talking about how it used to be “so much fun” that they would exchange gifts with each other, which was complete bullshit. Dennis never got a damn thing, and maybe that’s why he tried desperately to avoid the holiday all together.

Dennis spent the whole day trying to avoid the crate situation that Mac bugged him about. This is where the hyper-focusing came in, and boy did it fucking suck. But after all of the trouble of trying to get the gang to do their goddamn jobs for once, the customers being scared out by the gang’s disgusting behavior, Dennis gave in, Mac hauling the crate into the bar after Dennis had nearly had a complete meltdown toward Charlie, Dee and Frank.

“Just open it, dude.” Mac’s face was soft despite Dennis’ disbelief and annoyance, so Dennis had to submit to Mac’s request. 

Seeing the RPG he’s always wanted, nestled in the packing hay of the crate from the dark web, ignited a feeling in the pit of his stomach he didn’t know he had. For just a moment, Dennis lost whatever phony composure he had desperately tried to keep for years, he could goddamn cry if he didn’t get it together. 

The gang soon lost interest upon finding out that there was no actual rocket that came with the RPG, but Dennis didn’t care, he held it like the child he knew he had, but had yet to meet, and Mac inched closer to get a better look it at. 

They were too close for comfort, yet again, but of course, Dennis didn’t care. Mac’s smile was warm and his eyes were soft as they looked to Dennis through his lashes. Dennis could kiss this goddamn guy if he could, but he soon snapped back into his right senses and thanked him for his gift once again, fleeing an opportunity he would soon regret rejecting.


End file.
